TIME FOR A COOL CHANGE

Although it's the dreaded "bathing suit season" again, I'm not really worried about losing weight (although I'd be the first to admit that I need to!). BUT.......with the onset of age and all it's myriad health problems, plus the fact that several friends who are more-than-a-few years younger than me are having heart attacks, I've decided to try to get a little healthier. I'm already battling the smoking demon (it's an on-again off-again thang, but I'm winning so far) so now I've decided to try and eat a little healthier, exercise a bit more and maybe drop a pound or two in the process.

I started off using a diet page called Fit Day and it's nice; but all it really is, is a food log. I recently found a different one called Spark People that has a lot more bells and whistles. Both are free but Spark People is supposed to have been created by certified dieticians and fitness instructors. It has more to motivate you and a ton more information. Some of the extras are:

Calorie Counter & Meal Plans -Take the guesswork out of what to eat for your diet with these powerful customizable tools. {If you don't eat what's on the menu, you can enter what you did eat including customized entries for your own cooking. It counts calories and fat grams for you}
Personalized Fitness Plan & Exercise Demos - Burn calories and tone your muscles with routines you can do at home or at the gym {You don't have to buy any DVDs and such}
Active Support Message Boards - Get help from thousands of other people like you who are losing weight with SparkPeople.{These are great! I've met some nice people already}
Advice From Our Experts - Our free diet programs are designed by registered dieticians and personal trainers, who are also there to answer your questions.
Member Created Goal Groups-Find others with similar goals and work towards success together.
Recipes, Articles, Tips and More-Hundreds of articles and recipes to learn more about eating right, staying active, and sticking to your diet plan.
Much, Much More -We have too many features to list them all here, but other things you can get include a free personal homepage, a weight tracker and progress chart, an online journal, printable resources, and our SparkPoints motivation system, where you can even win prizes

I'm still learning my way around the site, but I'm amazed by the things that it offers for FREE!

Y'all wish me luck, I'm lazy, hedonistic and stubborn. It's not easy for someone who enjoys good food and hanging out with a great book to eat lite PLUS get off her ample ass and {GASP!} exercise!